W. Edith Elsner

Wilma Edith Elsner, age 97, died on July 31, 2019, in Pittsburgh, PA, where she lived since 2017. She is survived by her daughter Lucinda Elsner Wiebe (John) and grandsons William and Dylan.  She was preceded in death by her husband of more than 70 years, Ivan Ray Elsner, daughter Shirlee Kay Elsner, son William Russell Elsner who died in infancy, sisters Mildred Glade, Naomi Johnson, brother Edward "Brad" Bradley, and parents Joy and Charles Bradley. Edith was born in the Oregon desert community of Burns where the family had a farm and she and her siblings went to school on horseback.  Her mother, Joy, came to Oregon as a young girl in a covered wagon. The family moved to Wallowa, OR, where Edith graduated from Wallowa High. She lettered in sports, playing on the girls’ volleyball team.

She lived in Sherwood, OR, on the Elsner family farm, and for more than fifty years in the Portland suburb of Tigard.  She was a beautician and often helped harvest onions on the farm. She also worked at Portland Community College. Known as a caring and thoughtful person by family, friends, co-workers and neighbors, she was always more concerned that others were comfortable and well-fed than worrying about herself.

Edith loved the outdoors and wildlife. At her home in Oregon she would feed the backyard birds and attract many species to her picnic table.  Stellar Jays, Wrens, Mourning Doves, Towhee, Grossbeak, and many more! Sometimes a deer or two would hop the fence and take a taste from the garden. In her two years in Pittsburgh she enjoyed drives around nearby North Park to see the lake and was always thrilled to see deer, geese, groundhogs, and the occasional flock of turkeys. She loved to collect rocks, pine cones, and seashells and keep them on display, and she pressed leaves and flowers in books.

Always quick with a joke, a wink, and a smile, her caregivers at the assisted living community, The Haven at North Hills, will remember her fondly.  She was dubbed “speedy Gonzales” because she loved to challenge them to a race to the dining hall.  Getting her to slow down was their biggest hurdle!

Moving to Pittsburgh she became a fan of the local sports teams quickly and wanted a Steelers tee shirt to wear. (Back home she had been a fan of the Portland Trailblazers NBA team.)  She had the opportunity to travel to Lake Erie and to Niagara Falls, something she says she could never have imagined she would do.  At Niagara Falls, in line to ride the Maid of the Mist, she exclaimed, “we’re going on a BOAT?  You didn’t tell me we were going on a boat!”

Another of her loves was flowers. She won several ribbons for the plants she entered in the Sherwood, Oregon Robinhood Festival contests and was known for her green thumb, especially with African Violets.  She would take her daughters for nature walks in the woods and discover a variety of species of wildflowers.  In Pittsburgh she visited Phipps Conservatory twice, and the botanical gardens in Buffalo.  She also got to see the dinosaurs, and rocks and minerals exhibits at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 

Having her in Pittsburgh was a blessing for her family the final two years. She got to reconnect with her grandchildren whose growing up years she had missed due to the distance. She would start to sing “Everything is Beautiful” when she was asked how she liked it in her new home. 

The family farm, which had been passed down for several generations, had been sold in the early 1960’s. The property borders the Tualatin River. We would pick blackberries, discover bird nests, go fishing, and in the 1940’s there was even “Elsner Picnic Park” on the river where folks would come to swim, have a picnic, and they even held dances.  A large part of the more than 200 acres is now owned by the Fish and Wildlife Commission. In memory of both Edith and Ivan Elsner, the family requests donations to Friends of Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, 19255 SW Pacific Hwy, Sherwood, OR, 97140. For info call 503-625-5944 x227, or visit www.friendsoftualatinrefuge.org.

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